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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt signed off on Friday, bidding farewell to her final press gaggle before welcoming her second child, expected to be delivered soon.
“On a personal matter, this will likely be my last gaggle for some time – as you can see, I’m about to have a baby any minute,” she remarked, while speaking to reporters just outside the White House.
She continued, “I will see you guys very soon, I know you’ll be in very good hands with my team here at the White House, and I know all of you have the president’s phone number, personally, so I have no doubt that you will have a shortage of statements and news from this building while I’m gone.”
According to a scoop from POLITICO that was reposted online by Leavitt, it’s expected that a rotation of familiar faces will fill in for the White House press secretary while she is gone.
“No one will be filling in for Leavitt formally during her leave – but the comms shop is planning to have some similar faces at the podium to brief the press including VP JD Vance, Cabinet officials or even Trump himself,” the scoop reported.
During Leavitt’s maternity leave, White House comms will be managed, POLITICO said, by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung and her extensive press team.
Just after Christmas last year, Leavitt announced her pregnancy, her second child with husband Nicholas Riccio. As reported by RSBN, she said in a statement, “My husband and I are thrilled to grow our family and can’t wait to watch our son become a big brother. My heart is overflowing with gratitude to God for the blessing of motherhood, which I truly believe is the closest thing to Heaven on Earth.”
It is unclear how many weeks Leavitt will be gone, but POLITICO reported that her child may expected as early as next week.
